Hello from the UK

[thelatestcraze]

Hi everyone. Just introducing myself. I'm from Cornwall in the UK. When I was younger I saw a BMW E9 near where I lived and fell in love with it. From that day on I was determined to own one for myself. This time last year I finally managed to get my hands on one. I was a 1973 CSA and the same age as me. Like me it was also showing signs of wear and was a bit rough around the edges! I therefore decided to undertake a full bare metal restoration. I'm looking at a Polaris Silver with a matt red leather interior. Can't wait to get it finished and on the road. So many knowledgeable people on here and some amazing restorations! Simon

 

[CSteve]

Hi everyone. Just introducing myself. I'm from Cornwall in the UK. When I was younger I saw a BMW E9 near where I lived and fell in love with it. From that day on I was determined to own one for myself. This time last year I finally managed to get my hands on one. I was a 1973 CSA and the same age as me. Like me it was also showing signs of wear and was a bit rough around the edges! I therefore decided to undertake a full bare metal restoration. I'm looking at a Polaris Silver with a matt red leather interior. Can't wait to get it finished and on the road. So many knowledgeable people on here and some amazing restorations! Simon

Welcome. My 74 CSi is Polaris. It seems to me the lighter colors, like Polaris, show off the timeless lines of our coupes. The flip side, there seem to be more Polaris coupes than any other color. Not a problem for me. There are also other lighter and less often seen stock colors. Some funky 70s like Inka Orange. If you are a stickler for originality you might want to check what colors came with your red leather.

Would love to see your work in progress photos.

Steve

 

[thelatestcraze]

Hi Steve. Choosing a colour combination was so difficult. The E9 looks great in so many colours. Ideally I'd have 4 of them in different colours! I considered Schwartz Black, Golf Yellow and Inka Orange. All look great. I just thought that the silver/red interior combination looks great on classic cars. I appreciate the benefits of originality and can understand why it's important for some owners. My car was originally Fjord Blue and then was painted two different shades of red, the latter being Malaga. Unfortunately the paint job was pretty poor and I decided to start again from scratch. I've currently stripped it down to bare metal and have someone welding on new sills, rear valance etc - the usual areas of rust. Will post up some photos soon.

 

[Simufly]

Welcome, there are several UK based e9 owners on here, so any help you need just ask!

 

[thelatestcraze]

Thanks very much. Really appreciated. There's a guy I know down here in Cornwall who has a white CSL but the E9's in general seem to be pretty rare in the UK.

 

[Arde]

Stan would be the board expert and advocate on red interiors.
For every advocate their is a critic, and that is me arguing that prolonged staring at red surroundings raises blood pressure.

 

[thelatestcraze]

Haha. I know what you mean. It was a difficult decision. My mate who is helping me with the restoration used to own one and he was adamant it should have a black leather interior. I'm going to keep the dash and door cards black and just go with red seats. It'll be a darker matt shade though.

 

[Sam Lever]

Welcome Simon!

I have a Fjord blue CSL (black interior, as per standard). I agree that silver and red is a lovely combo. Enjoy your CS and come along to the BMW Festival at Gaydon if you can. It would be great to catch up.

 

[Stan]

Stan would be the board expert and advocate on red interiors.
For every advocate their is a critic, and that is me arguing that prolonged staring at red surroundings raises blood pressure.

Yes, there is nothing as lovely as a chamonix CS with red leather interior!

 

[thelatestcraze]

White and red leather is another great combination Stan. And if I win the Lottery I'll look at getting a CSL Sam! I think the E9 is one of those rare cars that looks amazing in a number of different colours. I actually bought mine from a guy called Dick who used to be a well known member on here. Nice bloke. Not sure if he's still on here or not. We've been spending the last month or so welding and replacing sills, valance and the usual places that suffer from the dreaded rust. It's looking really solid now - just a bit more work needed before we can get some epoxy primer on it. The seats etc are currently being reupholstered and we should be getting the height adjustable coilover kit from Gaz Shocks soon. Hoping it'll all be ready for the summer, although there's still a fair bit of work to do!

 

[FjordTempo]

Another vote for Polaris / Red from me. I think it's a stunning combination. I have a weird combo: Fjord over red. The Fjord is the original color, but a previous owner changed the interior color to red. It's grown on my over the years, though with red carpet, door cards, and seats, it's very red in there! Looking forward to seeing pictures of yours.

 

[Rek]

Welcome to the forum - lots of experience here. You can short circuit a lot of heartache by keeping in touch.